


Drabbles for November

by Arkeis07



Series: Carmilla Drabbles and Headcannon [1]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Drabbles, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-05
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-24 06:43:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 10,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2571929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arkeis07/pseuds/Arkeis07
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of word-count drabbles and headcannon ideas for this month. Ideally, 5 for every 5 days.</p><p>Included are headcannons about/relating to/hinging on:<br/>~ Our team is the Scooby Gang of Silas U<br/>~ Carmilla is cat-like. Also, yes, she can turn into a cat.<br/>~Danny plays lacrosse and is a titan in short shorts.<br/>~Carmilla smells like rust and eucalyptus (this is probably my fav headcannon)</p><p>~~~ Some of these I'll be expanding into one-shots, probably. Maybe. idk I'm fickle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I - V

Five 100(ish)-word Carmilla drabbles. 

**I _Feeding_**

And it would happen as a wave crashing over, a swell of intensity finally bursting from confinement, reckless rage tumbling out and swallowing who or whatever may be in her path. Uncontrolled and thrashing, she would only regain herself after the hunger had been satiated, after her fingers stopped trembling. 

It was a ferocious process; the fields of battle and ruins of bombarded towns were landscapes familiar with the splash of blood. Eventually her spirit calmed; perhaps the aura of war’s ultimate destruction left her with a bitter distaste for violence. She found she preferred the softness of surrender over the strife of struggle.

 

**II** _**Daughter - Landfill**  /’Cause this is torturous electricity/ between both of us and this is/ Dangerous, ‘cause I want you so much/ But I hate your guts./_

She’s too close, her scent is caught in your throat, it makes you want to cringe but you’re not sure if it’s because of distaste or the thought of what would be left if she was gone. There’s a mild anger that burns the back of you neck now whenever you find yourself smiling at her, juxtaposing her bunched up pout with your devilish smirk. She should know by now how dangerous this is. She should be recoiling away from you whenever you brush past her shoulder, depositing her cocoa next to her laptop as she tirelessly types away her essays.

**II-I**

She’s taken to dumping her schoolbags on her bed and plopping herself down on your own twin-size instead, settling in for an hour of reading assignments. One day she doesn’t notice that you actually never left your covers, but her surprised squeak masks your pitiful groan and she just giggles “Oops sorry,” before leaning her back against the lump of your legs and opening her Walden. You can feel the electro-magnetic pull of her body warmth through the duvet. Sometimes she can trick you into believing that warmth comes from within your own pale skin. It makes you burn with another emotion entirely. 

**III** _**Daughter - Medicine**  /You’ve got a second chance/ you could go home/ Escape it all, it’s just irrelevant./_

It’s dark outside but the flash of your anger lights the room with tension. Your voice is deeply gravely but the way she’s looking at you with fearful eyes, you might as well be yelling.

“ _You_  need to stop this. It’s dangerous and you need to leave. You should go back to your father and live in the woods of Walden and just escape everything that you are trying to involve yourself in here.”

You both argue in hushed tones for a while longer, Laura standing on principle and whatever misguided notions of loyalty she thinks she knows, you frosty with your lifetimes of experience of how oh so very badly this will end. Why can’t she understand, you’re trying to save her?

"I won’t see your warm heart devoured by the evil of this place. I’m telling you to leave, you can’t do anything more for these poor souls."

Laura’s lips tremble with a secret she’s not sure she’s ready to admit even to herself.

"It’s not just about the missing girls anymore. I’m staying because of you, Carmilla."

**IV _Scooby gang_**

There’s a lone security callbox at the far end of campus, but it’s the only one that glows with an eerie purple light. Campus rumor holds that members of the student body have disappeared after attempting to use the creepy emergency callbox. Laura finishes reading aloud this information from her email by jumping excitedly out of her chair and announcing, “We must investigate!”

From the window in the corner Carmilla lazily brushes her hair from her eyes. “Is that what we do now? We’re the Scooby Gang of Silas U?”

LaFontaine stares at Carmilla, “You watched Scooby Doo? Maybe we can be friends after all.”

"Doubtful," Carmilla replies, moving to the fridge. Laura, however, is undeterred. "Uhm, haven’t you noticed that we’re the only ones actually doing anything about the crazy supernatural weirdness that goes on here?"

"Which is, as I keep telling you all, a very good method for asking for trouble."

Danny interrupts, “But if not for us meddling kids, who’s gonna stop the baddies?”

  

**V _Video Update_**

The camera opens to Laura’s on-screen bunched-up pouty face. “It’s winter here at Silas University, and I’m going to be the first, and possibly only person, to inform you all that the first snowfall of the year is causing  _chemical burns to exposed skin._ " She bunches up her face even more and holds up a large mason jar filled with a slightly blue-tinged fluffy material, presumably the hot snow.

"We discovered this strange anomaly this morning when I re-adjusted my scarf outside of the student services building and got  _scalded on the back of my neck,_ which by the way, “and she scoots to closer to the camera, holding her hair away from the shoulder, ”is now itchy and discolored.”

In the background Carmilla’s eyebrows perk up and she tilts her head sideways, catching sight of Laura’s exposed neck. Laura sits back down and continues, “A full investigative report is underway.” There’s an undeniable scoff in the background as Laura switches off the webcam.


	2. VI - X

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> VI. Yoga  
> VII. Numbers  
> VIII. Toweled Typewriter  
> IX. Captivity  
> X. A vice grip on the lungs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These drabbles are 200 words! Double trouble!
> 
> Added a bonus 200 words to the last one for being late 2 days. Merp merp.
> 
> (keep going, me!)

**VI. _Yoga_**

Laura struggles to open her dorm door, finding it unlocked but definitely blocked by something heavy on the other side. She manages to shove enough to squeeze her lithe frame and portly bag through. Puzzled/frazzled, she gasps at the sight before her, "Uhm, what are you doing on the floor, Carmilla?"

"Yoga, honey, what's it looks like?" comes the familiar drawl.

Carmilla has shoved Laura's bed up the entrance way and partially blocked the door, and in the space between the bathroom and the desk, Carmilla has a leg crossed over the other and is twisting in an impressive manner.

"I get stiff sometimes when I'm... lacking in nutrition. This helps," she says as she sits and reaches her long arms up above her.

"Ok well, can you like, just move my bed back please..." Carmilla just stares with the eye that's not blocked by a curtain of dark hair. "...when you're done or whatever, I guess, jeez," Laura huffs and plops down with her books on Carmilla's bed.

"No need to be grouchy, cupcake, I'll move it."

"Never thought I'd hear a brooding vampire tell me to not be grouchy, but I guess this is just my life now."

 

**VII. _Numbers_**

The lights of the dance floor were starting to buzz around Laura's vision like fireflies, the bass was heavy in her bloodstream and she just needed either 1) a place to lie down or 2) another drink. Sliding behind the table, she catches sight of Carmilla across the sea of college bodies. She's gathering intel on the location of a certain dealer who may know something about girls missing at parties.

Carmilla also seems to be gathering other things, as the guy she's talking to just slid his hand across her lower back and she _smiled._  Or rather, _sexy smirked,_ but to Laura it's all together too much of a _look_ to be of any sort of good news. Carmilla floats about the packed room for all of the next twenty minutes with that smirk on her face.

Laura pretends not to notice as Carmilla dances (attractively) back to Laura, picking up a drink at the table and emptying her pockets, producing at least a half dozen pieces of napkin.

Laura's eyebrows twitch, "What're all these?" 

"Phone numbers," Carmilla shrugs with disinterest. Laura huffs to herself but even over the music Carmilla hears it and smirks into her glass.

 

**VIII. _Toweled Typewriter_**

There's one night, during finals week, when Carmilla is pretty sure Laura has lost it.

It's 3 a.m., and Laura's crazed at her desk, mumbling and typing, pushing away from the computer only to occasionally rub her face in her hands. At some point, she showers, Carmilla having suggested it may relieve some mental barriers (and teasing about redolence).

Five minutes following, Carmilla hears an excited squeak from the shower and moments later, a still very wet Laura-wrapped-in-fluffy-towel comes bursting out of the bathroom to swing into her chair and resume typing furiously. "Guess it worked huh?" Carmilla asks while eyeing a falling droplet down the back of Laura's naked calf.

Laura doesn't seem to have heard her, and in fact continues typing in her towel with impressive commitment until 4am. As she falls back into her chair, spent, her towel comes lose at the knot and exposes a length of thigh to Carmilla's side of the room. When Laura regains herself and looks upside down over her shoulder, she notices Carmilla's perked up eyebrows and smirk. Squeaking, she grasps the edges of her towel together and turns her chair around, the skin of her shoulders burning under Carmilla's gaze.

**IX. _Captivity_**

On the first day, she simply observed the captive vampire from the safety of her bed, Danny's softball bat a security blanket on her duvet. She kept the lights on that night and slept (as much as she could with Carmilla's eyes shooting daggers in her direction) with her back huddled to the wall and her fingers curled on polished wood grain. The next few days pass without so much as a word from Carmilla although a tepid smolder is slowly replacing the intense spark in her stare.

After four days, Laura's curiosity starts to get the better of her. Carmilla sleeps with her head down and her hair curtaining her face, and Laura decides it's safe to place a fingertip on the pale skin of Carmilla's forearm. Her flesh is cool but makes a peculiar blush where she touches it.

Feeling really guilty now on the 6th day, Laura offers her cache of snack food to Carmilla but she stubbornly refuses. She wants blood.

She seems to Laura like a lethargic cat, and maybe that's why Laura pets her goodnight before she rushes off to a 7am lecture on the 8th day.

The ninth day, Carmilla has a seizure.

 

**X. _A vice grip on the lungs_**

With Carmilla's cool hand in her pocket and wet grass slipping underfoot, she finds it easier to breathe. Minutes ago she had woken to moonlit sheets wrapped around her torso, instead of the suffocating black cloud that was just plaguing her dreams. She saw Carmilla's eyes reflect moonlight. 

"Bad...nightmare. I couldn't breathe..."

Carmilla sits and pushes her blanket back, her voice low and calm, "Should we go outside, Laura?"

Such a sudden request, or rather invitation, seems strange to her, but she realizes that it is exactly what she wants right now. "I... yes, please. " After she pulls down her sweater and slip on a beanie, Carmilla holds out her hand to lead and Laura feels her eyebrows perk up in appreciation because her mouth can't yet smile.

Carmilla hasn't let go yet. Spring is approaching but the last tendrils of winter wrap themselves as low-lying fog wandering over campus. She pulled Carmilla's hand into her pocket the moment her slippers met cool night air. Carmilla is barefoot and with just Laura's maroon scarf and black beanie, but the vampire seems, predictably, unaffected.

Carmilla squeezes her hand every so often, trying to make up for lower temperatures. It's sweet.

X-II

"I remember what it's like to feel no breath in your lungs." Carmilla squeezes Laura's fingers in a closer hold. She's not sure who it's meant to comfort more. "I spent decades with the feeling... That first night, when I could finally taste the air again... It was like being reborn." She grows quiet again, and Laura is hesitant to interrupt, having only a vague idea of what had happened to Carmilla the night she was released from her coffin, her prison. Laura doesn't like to spend much time thinking on it, anyway. She supposes Carmilla doesn't either.

"I just don't like feeling so... helpless," Laura admits to her feet. 

Carmilla is quiet for a long time, before she shuffles closer to Laura and in a whisper-soft voice says, "I'm... claustrophobic." Laura nods silently, but Carmilla doesn't explain further. There's only so much vulnerability that can be shared in just one night. 

They walk around the quad in full, wet grass sticking to Carmilla's feet and Laura's slippers.

"Is it helping," Carmilla asks quietly, "being outside?" Laura finally feels a smile turn, and nods, "Yes, very much. It's exactly what I needed." Laura takes a deep breath in. Carmilla follows.


	3. XI - XV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> XI. Lacrosse (Danny is in this one!) (pre- ep. 31)  
> XII. Before the whole Vampire Thing  
> XIII. Cold War Kids - Passing the Hat  
> XIV. Dessert before dinner  
> XV. Rust and Eucalyptus
> 
> 300 words this time!  
> 

XI. _Lacrosse (pre- ep. 31)_

Carmilla broodingly gazes down upon the track field from her rooftop perch. The sun is starting to dip below the horizon and Danny is colored red and gold as she streaks up and around and through her opponents, cradling the rubber ball in her Crosse. She's a titan in short shorts, sprinting faster and shooting farther than any of her teammates.

Post-practice, Danny lifts her bag over her shoulder and starts to follow her teammates to the gym. Spotting Carmilla in the distance, leaning casually against the building's corner, Danny slows and excuses herself from her friends. Visibly taking in a big sigh, she lugs the bag higher up and walks to meet the vampire.

"Figure this is something important, since you're out in sunlight and all."

Carmilla still leans into the wall. "It's Laura." Danny immediately stiffens but before she can assume rescue-mode, Carmilla quells her fears. "She's fine. Well, she's not fine, she's miserable actually. You need to do something about it." 

Danny looks confused. Carmilla sighs. "Stupidly, she's feeling all these things like guilt and sadness over LaFontaine's disappearance and it's making me nauseous so you need to snap her out of it. Or someone does."

Now Danny looks sad. "I don't want to crowd her." She drops her bag and backs up against the wall. "She doesn't want me to protect her and I'm not sure anymore what else she might want from me."

"She wants a friend, not a guardian."

Danny nods. Carmilla copies Danny's position, dropping her head back against brick. "Do you miss her?"

"Yes, of course. She's like a little ray of sunshine. She's great," Danny smiles down at her hands.

Carmilla starts to walk away, "Go, she's in the dorm now. I expect things to be fixed when I return."

  

 **_XI-II_ ** _(basically if Danny and Laura weren't so childish and dumb about each other)_

Danny brings sandwiches (both deli meat and ice cream varieties) as a peace offering, and knocks quietly on the door, which is rarely knocked upon to begin with so that's probably why it takes a couple minutes of waiting and a louder knock before Laura opens the door, looking mildly confused. 

"Oh, Danny...!"

Danny lifts up the offering in front of her, "Hi. Hungry?" Laura's face relaxes into a smile and she stares at Danny's hands for a moment. "Yes actually, come in."

Laura finishes her turkey with brie quickly, and reaches for the mint chocolate cookie-wich, but her fingers stall over it. "You heard what happened to LaF?" she asks quietly. Danny nods solemnly, "Yea, Perry was asking me if I'd seen her. But she's back now, right?"

Laura drops her hand, and shakes her head, "Yes, but it's just like the other girls, and we've only got till Friday to figure out how to save her!" Danny hesitantly reaches for Laura's hand, and sighs in relief when Laura let's her hold it. "It's intense, yes, but you're not alone in this." 

"Does this mean you're back in?" Laura asks hopefully. Danny shrugs, "I'd rather be fighting against supernatural weirdness with my friends than... alone." 

Laura gives an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry about our whole... thing. But happy you're here."

Letting go of Laura's hand, Danny nods, "Yea, same. Sorry, but happy."

"I feel like I've been cooped up in this room and lecture halls for weeks now. I need a change of scenery. Or like, run a marathon. Although, ew, running."

Danny idly toes her bag on the floor. "I, uh, I got really good at lacrosse while we, uh, weren't talking. I could teach you some... stuff? If you like. Outside - change of scenery, and all."

 

_XII. Before the whole Vampire thing_

Laura's used to it by now, the sounds of Carmilla returning from a "night out." She hums with life in the dark, sometimes actually humming, and heads straight for the shower. Laura's never gotten a good look at her during these occasions, but she assumes she must be quite filthy because the girl takes an _age_ to come back out. And in the morning, Laura can expect to find hair in the shower, clothes on the floor, and Carmilla's towel draped over the mirror. It's only on this night, with insomnia forbidding sleep and a test in the morning, that Laura finds the courage to put to a stop to it.

"Eventful night out?" she asks, sitting up. 

Carmilla halts before relaxing into her usual slouch and smirk. "Oh, sleeping beauty. Your endless webcam-ing hasn't tuckered you out yet?" 

Laura huffs as she brings her yellow pillow in front of her and hugs it. "No! I... I can't sleep. I think I'm anxious about this test tomorrow." Carmilla falls onto her bed and reaches over the nightstand to grab a candle and flick a lighter on, "Pfft, you were studying all evening before I left, you'll be fine." 

"And where _did_ you go, by the way? You seemed very... pleased, when you returned." Laura pushes for an answer, for a reason to be mad at her co-ed seducing roommate.

"Oh I don't think that's anything a pretty young _neophyte_ such as yourself need be concerned with; I wouldn't wish to... spoil you," Carmilla smirks through candlelight.

"Well trust me, I don't really care," Laura tries to cover up, "but maybe you could do a little more than nothing about the state that the bathroom is in right now, because I do _not_ need to wake up to that haz-mat zone." 

_XIII. Cold War Kids - Passing the Hat_  

Sunset shines through the stained glass parables and saintly meetings above Carmilla's head. They cast colored shadows over the priests up front, droning in Latin with their backs to the congregation. 

Carmilla sits not far from a family with a small child, and although she's been here for the entire Mass, the holy man's words have not swayed her. Ruefully, Carmilla thinks on her condition and accepts that salvation will never be granted to her. The religion of her family will have abandoned her now, the monster that she is. But they're all dead anyway. 

Heads are down in prayer and the offering basket is snaking its way through the aisles. This will be the last collection before Carmilla has enough money for a ticket across the Atlantic. Securing passage to the Americas has been her course since she made it to the coast, and by tomorrow, she'll taste salt spray on the air. 

The small child stumbles over himself when he reaches to pass the basket to Carmilla, his parents watching with gently amused smiles. Carmilla mirrors their mouths and nods to the little one, waiting until the family has returned to prayer. Then she slips her hand in and empties the basket with a heavy grasp, depositing the whole into her small bag.

Outside the cathedral, Carmilla lazily plays a coin between her fingers, flipping it end over end across her knuckles with ease. A young churchgoer watches her from across the square, and she feels his eyes run up her legs beneath her Sunday dress. She tilts her head and flips the coin into the air, catching it and gracefully stepping down to the street. She can hear the young man's approach as she leads him down the alleyway, and in shadow, her fangs erupt in anticipation.

_XIV. Dessert Before Dinner_

Laura's blood is like, noxiously sweet. Like high fructose corn syrup. It was delicious at first but Carmilla's pretty sure she'd get really sick if she overindulged. Which is why it's not _too_ terrible to share a small living space with the clumsy girl who seemingly attracts injury like a magnet. She cuts herself on cooking utensils, while shaving, even on a door hinge one time. It's never much more than a trickle, but it's always enough to set Carmilla's teeth on edge. The pointy edge. Luckily Laura is, by now, a skilled first aid responder, and the issue is quickly taken care of, and she's even considerate enough to offer a sheepish, "Sorry," towards Carmilla's direction, even though Carmilla is totally positive that she never gives herself away, and that she wishes Laura would stop apologizing for getting hurt. 

But it's still tempting. Every pinprick is like the _pophiss_ of a sugary soda can. Every little whispered "ouch!" is like the Pavlovian dinner bell. And one night, when they're being outrageously domestic and making a (rare) healthy dinner together, Laura cuts her finger while chopping carrots. She lifts her finger up to inspect the wound, which is impressively deep, when a hearty drop of bright red falls, and it lands in Carmilla's suddenly there hand, hovering over the salad bowl. They share a glance, before Laura moves to the sink, grabbing a paper towel and preparing to dress the small injury. Laura looks embarrassed, which is ridiculous, but Carmilla can't say anything to address it, because her throat is dry and her palm is deliciously sticky. She lifts her palm to her lips and licks it clean.

Carmilla looks at Laura over her hand, and she looks a cross between apprehensive and amused. Carmilla shrugs softly, "Dessert before dinner?"

 

_XV. Rust and Eucalyptus_

She slinks in just before dawn, and it's her scent that wakes Laura before she feels a body slide in next to her. Laura keeps her eyes closed but her arms open, feels a cool kiss on her forehead when Carmilla settles in. Laura breathes in deeply. 

Carmilla smells of rust and eucalyptus. It's vaguely familiar but mostly peculiar and definitely intoxicating, but instead of getting lost in it, Laura finds she's more clear-headed and awakened by the smell. She finds it relieves her headaches from hours of studying, so sometimes she takes breaks by sliding her chair over and flopping her face onto Carmilla's bed. If Carmilla's there, and if Carmilla's foot toes her head, her only response is a long, muffled groan. "Oh good, not dead yet," Carmilla says lazily, every time.

Right now, with Carmilla's cool body wrapped around her, and the strong invigorating scent clearing her senses, Laura feels as wide-open as the sunrise. She draws circles on the skin on Carmilla's back, peaceful.

Laura likes the way the dust glints in the dawn light streaming in from the window. She likes feeling Carmilla's breath on her shoulder as she follows the floating particles around the room, searching for a place to settle. She'll be getting up to start her day in a couple hours, but this is probably her favorite time of the day. Carmilla has returned from another ritual "night out," because sadly hospital-grade blood bags can't match the necessity of the vampiric "time of the month" (although Carmilla swears up and down to Laura that she doesn't kill her meals - anymore).

"Go back to sleep, sweetheart, I didn't mean to wake you," Carmilla mumbles into her cheek.

"I'm happy you're back," Laura sighs, kissing her lightly.

Carmilla's lips taste of oxidized iron.

 


	4. XVI - XX

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo soRRY I've been v distracted lately with writing Final Showdown fics btwn Carmilla Gang v. The Dean and I lost my commitment to drabble. SO these are late. And back to just 100 words (well, one's 200). 
> 
> XVI. Carmilla Cat  
> XVII. It's just a dream  
> XVIII. Vodka  
> XIX. You're my shining diamond  
> XX. Another cat one #ihaveathingforCarmillalickingLaura'sblood?

 

_XVI. Carmilla Cat (100)_

After the initial shock and disbelief fades (that Carmilla can totally just poof into a huge cat whenever she wants), Laura gets way more comfortable with Cat!Carmilla than with Leatherpants!Carmilla. Which Carmilla eventually figures out and since there's still this weird tension that neither of them seems brave enough to do something about, Carmilla's started hanging out in cat form, taking cat naps on Laura's bed and rubbing against her legs when she comes home from class. She'll never admit that she loves it when Laura's lips bury into the fur at the top of her head. But Laura probably knows.

 

_XVII. It's just a dream (100)_

She finds her in the drawing room, lit by a single candle flame and drinking from a teacup. Carmilla assumes its chocolate, for Ell loved its semi-sweet taste, and Carmilla loved the taste on Ell's tongue.

"Such a shame you'll never know happiness as simple as love," Ell speaks from behind the cup.

Carmilla's approach stalls, and she watches as Ell lowers the cup, her lips stained with chocolate.

Stained with blood. It dribbles down her chin to her nightdress. "You're made of stone Carmilla. You'll weather the centuries but will never know the warmth of love's true return."

 

_XVIII. Vodka (200)_

Historically Carmilla has always been partial to vodka. Well, first choice would be champagne, the good stuff she gets from upcountry. Or, for the occasions that required her to woo a young girl, she'd go with red wine, often a pinot, because of the way it tints her lips a dark rosy hue and which would always without a doubt get her some adoration from her guest.

But when she's alone, maybe melancholy, maybe gazing up at the stars and just wishing to obliterate her super senses and super emotions for a few moments, it's strong, crystal clear 80-proof vodka that burns her throat. No matter the amount, she's never able to stay inebriated for long. Just an ineffectual poison blurring her edges.

So now, having finished obliterating up on the tallest roof on campus, Carmilla returns to the dorm, and she kneels next to Laura's bed, a finger coming out to play with one of Laura's wayward blonde curls. And despite the obliteration, her super keen sense of smell is still inundated with _LauraLauraLaura_ , and that's what she drifts away to, allowing herself to sleep on the ground as the blue of predawn starts to color in the window.

 

XIX. _You're my shining diamond (100)_

Carmilla runs her hand over luxurious silk sheets as Maman sits behind her, combing her dark tresses and speaking in a warm tone near her ear. Carmilla's only a few years older than the night she was murdered, the night she was reborn. She listens desperately as Maman tells her she is a diamond, that Maman is so splendidly happy that she found her, and how they will together sail across the world drinking as they please and dancing in moonlight.

Maman wraps a hand around Carmilla's throat bringing her closer, kissing her temple. "You're my shining diamond, dear girl."

 

XX. _Another cat one #ihaveathingforCarmillalickingLaura'sblood? (100)_

Carmilla is curled up on Laura's lap, purring lightly while she paws a fraying belt loop on Laura's jeans. Laura sits editing this week's journalism videos, but she'll absentmindedly scratch Carmilla's head occasionally. The cat stretches up into the touch. One of her paws gets too excited however, and a sharp claw pokes at the skin at Laura's hip, drawing a pinprick of blood and a small gasp out of Laura.

Carmilla mewls softly and nuzzles into Laura's side apologetically. But then her rough sandpaper cat tongue peeks out and draws away the little speck of blood.

"That's so weird."

 

 


	5. XXI - XXV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> XXI.Koven - Final Call (600)  
> XXII. MS MR - BTSK (500)  
> XXIII. In which Laura eats a pot cookie (500)  
> XXIV. Playing with fire (400)  
> XXV. Where do you go when you leave? (300)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These are laaaaaaate because of the holiday season and working 6 days a week in retaaaaaaaail. And also idk I'm just not so good with time management and motivation. So.

_XXI.[ Koven - Final Call ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j411kQANAFI)(600)_

\- you're like a demon in the dark / like a force with no release / you're claiming control/ by always telling me/ -

Carmilla lies brooding on borrowed bed sheets, the book she was trying to read lying face down on her stomach. She's alone for now, Laura won't return from lecture for another couple hours. Mother's words circle viciously through Carmilla's mind, the meeting hours ago but the emotion still fresh.

_It will do you no good to keep up these charades, my darling girl._

Carmilla shoves the book off her stomach and turns to face the wall. There's drywall chipping away where she sometimes digs her nail into the wall on the late mornings when sleep won't come to her. She picks at it now, peeling away a large, satisfying chunk, but it crumbles once free from the wall, and dirties her sheets.

_I know that you've been... occupied with that roommate of yours. She must be awfully determined to find her lost friend, if you haven't yet been able to dissuade her from her little Internet hobby._

Flicking off the remnants of drywall from her nail, Carmilla huffs and turns over again, this time her gaze falling onto Laura's computer, her camera turned off but the sleep mode light glowing rhythmically.

_Sit down. Let me tell you what will happen if these distractions keep up their course._

Carmilla remembers the feeling of her teeth chewing on the inside of her cheeks as Mother reminded her just how helpless she is, and how doomed Laura will be, and how incontrovertible the tradition has been and how certainly it will all happen again twenty years from now.

\- I'm too broken to be fixed / I'm too numb to feel the pain / too blind to see the truth/ I'm too weak to walk away/ -

Carmilla had left the office with a sinking feeling in her gut and a brightly hot burn on her cheek from where Mother had kissed her. Carmilla crossed campus under the shadows of buildings, the bright afternoon sun sapping her energy and reminding her that she is weak. That Mother is strong. And that any attempts to change fate are futile.

\- But I'm finding strength/ I'm finding strength / I'm finding strength, in the arms of someone else -

"Hey," Laura greets as she enters the room. Carmilla tilts her head up on her pillow, raises her eyebrows and clicks her tongue in answer. Laura beelines for her desk chair and glances at Carmilla reclining.

"Oh good, you're not busy. Here, " and she hoists up the Sumerian tome onto Carmilla's bed, "crack open a page."

Carmilla props herself up on her elbows and tries to cast disdain on her features, but Laura's smile somehow widens, and Carmilla finds herself scooting to the edge of the bed, lying on her stomach and slowly opening the ancient text in front of her.

"You know, I haven't slept at all today," Carmilla intones lazily.

"Hmm, sometimes I wonder if delirium doesn't occasionally inspire genius. I've written some pretty critical essays during crunch time."

Laura turns in her chair to regard Carmilla. "And hey, it's not like lack of sleep is gonna kill you."

Carmilla looks up from the text, the ghost of a smile on her lips to match Laura's.  She reaches a hand out to Laura's knee and pushes her slowly back toward facing her computer. Before she lets go however, she feels Laura's hand come down on top of hers, feels a squeeze.

"No, it won't be that which kills me."

 

 

XXII. [MS MR - BTSK](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx7afw6CmYc) (500)

Carmilla returns a week after battle. Everyone thought she was gone. Laura had cried herself to staunch acceptance just the day before.

\- i found you in pieces, you'd been torn apart/ a million one reasons, to end before you start -

Carmilla actually knocks on the door. Doesn't barge in with canvas slung over-shoulder, doesn't appear in a burst of black smoke in the kitchen corner, doesn't cat-leap through the window. She knocks, and the sound of knuckles on wood knocks the air out of Laura's lungs.

And also all the words - she can't speak; a silent tear falls down her left cheek, followed by another on the right. Carmilla says nothing, but she raises her hand, so slowly, to lightly brush the tear away.

Laura shakes out of her stunned state and grabs Carmilla's hand before it drops away from her, before she misses her chance. And she tugs, and Carmilla is falling forward, and Laura crushes her to her chest.

"I'll explain - "

"I don't want to hear it. Not right now," Laura whispers into her hair.

\- it didn't come easy/ i'm glad it was hard/ worth the wait to give you my heart -

"Sit down," Laura says but commands with her hands as she holds Carmilla firmly in her grasp, as though afraid to let go. She kneels on the ground in front of the girl on Laura's bed. Her hands slide along Carmilla's thighs to rest at her knees, where her thumbs rub in small indentations around the kneecap. Her gaze is unfocused and drawling over Carmilla's face, her body. She takes in all the evidence of battle, the weariness of exhaustion but the tense fire of expectation written all over the vampire. Laura feels emboldened by the knowledge that Carmilla can't seem to read her now.

She leans forward and smashes their lips together, meeting teeth and an exhalation of hot breath.

Laura's fingers scratch at naked nape beneath black smoky locks, but they come away with crusted blood under the nails. Laura pulls her lips away and Carmilla tries to follow them, her eyes opening a second later. Laura, trying to control her breathing, stands and pulls Carmilla with her.

Laura is careful when she removes Carmilla's clothing, but hasty in shedding her own shirt and pants to the bathroom floor. She positions Carmilla under the showerhead and steps in with her. The corner of Carmilla's mouth is sucked behind a tooth, and Laura silently leans around her to turn the handle.

Carmilla drops her head back as the warm water flows, and Laura watches as she brings her hands to her face, pressing in her eyes for a moment, before slowly raking through her hair. Water droplets fall from her eyebrows, making her squint when she looks at Laura. Laura steps close and kisses her chastely.

The shower stall is a haze of lavender and vanilla and Laura tries to wash away all that ever tried to take Carmilla away from her.

 

 

XXIII _In which Laura eats a pot cookie_ (500)

Laura eats a fun cookie one night at a Frosh party and is just, _much, much too high_ for this, and that's why Carmilla comes back to their room to find her on the ground, one leg stretched wide to the side. Carmilla doesn't speak (her eyebrows speak for her) so Laura offers gracelessly: "I tried to do yoga and I think I fell asleep for a minute."

It's still early into their newfound truce-friend-ship, but Carmilla's pretty sure she doesn't need feel _too_ bothered by the fact that her shoulders tensed and her teeth ached when her eyes took in the vulnerable scene. This girl was unbelievable. 

"Ok so full disclosure, I shared a pot cookie with Kirsch at this party tonight, and I had a really good time, but I had to come back here because, well... I'm a tiny person and it was the big half of the cookie."

Carmilla has proceeded into the room by now, sitting at the edge of her bed and regarding Laura with an almost smile behind her glass of dark liquid. Laura pulls her legs underneath her and feels obligated to continue:

"So I was trying to do some yoga to like, clear my mind and all, and also stretching? The greatest. But yea, then I kinda went on this journey in my mind and maybe fell asleep but then I heard you come in, and also who do we talk to about fixing that god awful creaking sound because wow, that is jarring...

... and I know I'm rambling, sorry." 

"It's not much different from any other time you open your mouth, Chatty Kathy."

"Hey!"

"So you enjoyed yourself tonight?" Carmilla leaves her empty but stained red glass on Laura's desk as she heads into the bathroom. "Such an unprecedented occurrence, the young studious shut-in reveling in the frivolity of youth and recreational drugs..."

"I'm not a shut-in!" Laura calls from the floor. 

"...one might wonder if the excitements of the wider world are enough to entice the straitlaced neophyte to further exploits of riskiness."

"Wait, you're going out again?"

Carmilla saunters back into the room, the new shirt she's wearing exposing skin banded by black lace.

"Night's still young, cutie."

Carmilla offers her hand to Laura, and although Laura doesn't need her assistance by now, she still places her palm into hers. "The stars are lovely tonight. Are you sure you'd rather stay inside while your mind is so... open to the unconventional?"

\----- 

Laura feels the cold air down into her bones but she has yet to really mind it. The hold of Carmilla's hand is too distracting anyway, and up here the stars really are lovely pinpricks of light reminding Laura that it's not all assignments and exams and life and death and good and evil and love and loss. There are moments in between all that.

Her swirling mind tries to make sense of the tingling sensation she feels when Carmilla's bare shoulder brushes against her occasionally.

 

 

 _XXIV. Playing with fire_ (400)

Carmilla stands in the kitchen, slowly floating her hand through a candle flame. Laura, resting her back against the wall on her bed, watches Carmilla for a few moments, mesmerized by candlelight dancing across her features and playing shadow puppets on the walls. 

"Playing with fire, Carmilla?" Laura asks as she readjusts her pillow under her head. 

Carmilla's hand stalls, hovering dangerously close to the flame, closer than what looks safe, and her eyes lock with Laura. 

"The thought occurs to me." Her eyes flash in the flickering light.

With a light chuckle, Carmilla shakes her hand away from the flame, and Laura releases a breath she didn't know she was holding. She has to suck another back in though as she watches Carmilla slink towards her.

And then she's leaning close, bracing her arms in the bedspread on either side of Laura's knees, pushing into her personal space, gazing with half-lidded eyes almost hidden by dark bangs.

"What could be more enticing than a flame in the dark?"

"Back up. I can see your teeth."

"That's because I'm smiling at you."

"It's creepy."

 

Carmilla lifts an eyebrow as she pushes off the bed, but she stays close, and Laura brings her feet underneath her because she could almost feel heat from Carmilla's proximity.

"I've told you already, creampuff, I never hurt any of those girls. They all followed me willingly into the dark," Carmilla flashes that grin again.

Laura feels a drop of ice slide down her spine. "Don't." Shakes her head and her voice falls quieter. "Don't talk about them like... they're already gone."

Carmilla doesn’t necessarily roll her eyes, but she does look pointedly to the wall, and then the ceiling, holding in a breath, holding her tongue. She turns back to the kitchen and drags the stool to the table, opening a small book under the candlelight.

 

"I can't sleep," Laura admits a few moments later.

"And that's my problem, is it?" 

"Do you really think they're dead? Betty and... the rest?" 

"I don't know anything more than what we discussed last week," Carmilla shakes her head and closes her book. "And you should stop asking questions if you're afraid of the answer." She blows out her candle roughly and leaves through the door, casting Laura once again into the dark. 

"... then how will I ever know the truth?" Laura asks to the blackness.

 

 

XXV.  _Where do you go when you leave?_ (300)

"Sometimes I go upcountry to slay monsters. Villagers offer me barrels of plum rakija as payment. So it's worth the scratch or two."

Laura rolls her eyes and turns back to her essay, knowing she shouldn't have expected a real answer, because every time she asks Carmilla where she vacates to on most nights, she only gets tall tales, if any response at all.

\----

"The Arctic Monkeys played a show in Munich. I would have brought you back a t-shirt souvenir, but then I remembered that I didn't care. So."

Laura shakes her head as she pulls her hair up into a messy bun on her head. She grabs her schoolbag and heads out the door as Carmilla climbs into her sheets.

\----

"Jewelry heist in Paris. I'll be damned if I ever let some new age internet mogul think he can horde the whole lot of Stryian noble gemstones in hispied-à-terre facing the Seine."

Laura crosses her arms and nods her head, eyebrows saying oh yes, do go on.

"What? Those heirlooms are historical; they belong in a beautiful museum. Like the Met."

\----

"I ate someone. That's what you keep thinking, right?" Carmilla picks at her teeth with a black fingernail.

"I mean it's not like you've promised me that you don't."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"It'd be easier to vouch for you to my friends, in any case."

"I'm not here to make friends, buttercup."

\----

One night Carmilla barges into the room at 4am, which would normally really piss Laura off, but she's been battling insomnia for the better part of the night, so the distraction is almost welcome.

"Are you... limping?"

"Vampire fight club. Will was there. He's gonna need a sling for the next couple days."

"..."

"He may have got in a lucky shot."


	6. XXVI - XXX

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drabbles featuring Danny! There was an appalling lack of the Tall Gay Ginger during this month's writing so here are my last five drabbles for November, either Danny X Laura or OT3
> 
> XXVI. Nervous Hands (600) (Danny x Laura)  
> XXVII. A Plan for Paris (600) (OT3)  
> XXVIII. Lipstick Smears (500) (Hollence; Hollstein implied)  
> XXIX. Try and relax (500) (Danny x Laura)  
> XXX. The Pot Cookie Party - Danny POV (500 + 500) (Danny x Laura, brief Carmilla mention)

XXVI. _Nervous hands_ (600) (Danny x Laura)

Laura can never figure out what to do with her hands when she's near Danny.

 

When they're studying together, or rather when Laura has taken a break from studying in order to sneak glances at Danny and blush lightly when she meets Danny's sneaky glance too, she ends up tapping her pen in an annoying manner, and she knows it's annoying because she'll look up occasionally and see someone staring at her rudely and she's had too many moments of "oops sorry" head nods for it to not be considered a nervous tick.

 

When they're getting coffee together after Lit class and Laura walks Danny back to her TA office, Laura peels at the cardboard slip on her cup, and by the time they say goodbye, it's flapping freely and Laura has to keep her fingers pinched, else she drops it and Danny thinks she's a litter bug.

 

A week ago they went on a walk around campus to burn off the cafe dinner they just shared, and she tried to consciously keep her hands in pockets, but then Danny's hand knocked awkwardly into her elbow, and Laura realized she was trying to go for a hand hold, and then it kinda ruined the moment so Danny stuck her hands in her pockets too and Laura cursed herself all the back to her dorm.

 

So right now, in Danny's room, waiting for Danny to return from the kitchen with tea for the both of them, she's finding she can't help but touch _everything,_ from Danny's photo frames of athletic championships and the spines of her hardcover books and her lacrosse jersey, and now she's got her fingers stuck in a knot in the netting of her lacrosse stick and she can hear Danny's footsteps in hall, so she struggles to free herself, and ends up throwing the stick down to the hardwood just as Danny opens her door.

 

"Erh, sorry. I was being nosy."

 

"Oh. Well that's fine, I mean... did you break anything?"

 

"Oh jeez no, never! I just - sometimes my hands, they... I dunno I guess I get a little restless sometimes."

 

"Well here, wrap your hands around this, tea's nice and hot."

 

"Thanks," and Laura tucks her hair behind her ear before accepting the mug, and Danny watches her hands now, probably because Laura brought attention to them, and now her mind's wondering what stupid thing they're gonna do next in front of the taller girl.

 

They set up a study session on Danny's bedspread, and when Laura finishes her tea, she sets it on the nightstand behind her. When she turns back to lean on her hand however, her fingers land right on top of Danny's, and she's got a little too much weight on it now so she just kinda lets it stay there, and Danny looks up at her and Laura hopes Danny can't feel her heartbeat through her hand, because she sure can hear it in her head.

And then Laura's other hand decides to curl a handful of Danny's red hair, and it's the first time she thanks her stupid hands, because as a direct result, Danny leans in and kisses her.

It's not their first kiss, but it's the first that Danny initiates, which makes Laura lean into her further, because _finally_. So it's established, that they kiss now, sometimes, so maybe there'll be more kisses, more often, and for longer intervals. And really, kissing Danny works so much better for Laura because she doesn't have to worry about what her hands are doing. Regardless, Danny seems to like it.

 

  

XXVII. A Plan for Paris (600) (OT3)

 Laura happens upon Carmilla on the couch outside the Lit Department's TA offices, on her way to the lecture hall. She's hidden under a bunched up sweater, and given that it's almost 9 a.m., she's fast asleep. Carmilla wakes when Laura pulls the sweater down, "Is this where you've been all night?"

 

"I've been elsewhere too. G'morning," she kisses Laura's hand. "I'm waiting for Danny."

 

"Hmm, looks like you were sleeping."

 

"Which allows me to conserve my strength for what I'm about to confer with our Professor-in-Training. She's been kept away from us for an unwarranted amount of time."

 

"Aww, it's cute when you pine."

 

"Go away, Cupcake. You're ruining it."

 

"Ruining...?"

 

"... A surprise." Carmilla shoos her, "Laissez-moi, mon ange."

 

"Oh, I could never." Carmilla pulls her down by her maroon scarf and kisses her, then pushes her away. "Go to class."

 

"You're giving me a French lesson when I come back!" Laura throws over her shoulder.

 

Danny arrives ten minutes later, arms juggling three books, a muffin and a coffee. She's struggling to retrieve her keys from her pants and hasn't seen Carmilla yet.

 

"Got it," Carmilla announces her presence, and Danny's mild "oh" is quickly followed by a "woah, hey!" as Carmilla fishes out her keys from her back pocket, being sure to pinch Danny's ass on the way out.

 

"What are you doing here?" Danny follows Carmilla into the small office, frowning as Carmilla flops down into her roller chair, kicking her feet up on the desk.

 

"Laura's birthday."

 

"Yes, it's Thursday. I'm not helping you pick out a gift for our girlfriend, you mooch." Danny shoves Carmilla's boots off the desk and replaces them with her book load. "Being sweet and thoughtful is kinda my one-up on you in this whole thing, and I plan on keeping my home field advantage."

 

Carmilla leans forward and steeples her fingers together between her knees. "I want to go to Paris this weekend. With both of you. So we need to excuse Laura from her midterm on Friday. And you know the professor."

 

"Wow, that's unethical," Danny scoffs as she leans into the desk, crossing her arms in front of her. "And what about my schedule? I also have responsibilities, you know."

 

"Living a life worth remembering is a much greater responsibility," Carmilla flourishes with her hand swirling in the air.

 

"Oh shut up, Elvira."

 

"So you'll do it?"

 

"At what point in this meeting did I even so much as _hint_ that I was appreciative of your plan?"

 

"There's a comparative literature conference at Sorbonne, I'm sure that's reason enough for your Department Head to give you the weekend."

 

"Do you actively ignore the counterpart in every conversation you have, or is it really just because you only ever listen to Laura?"

 

Carmilla stands, grabs Danny by the waist and pulls her close. "I am listening. You both have been drowning in work, Laura's back to her unusual sleep schedule - "

 

"- I've always blamed you for that -"

 

"- and you're too tired to even meet us for breakfast -"

 

"- I can't eat waffles at 11pm!"

 

"So just let me take you both away. We'll return to monotony come Monday."

 

Danny huffs out a breath, blowing a strand of hair from her face. Carmilla reaches up to tuck it behind her ear.

 

"I've always liked you slightly flustered."

 

"You mean frustrated, and you're the best at making me so." But there's a small smile creeping into the corners of Danny's mouth, and Carmilla stands on tiptoes to kiss her.

 

"So you'll do it."

 

"I'll see what I can do."

 

  

XXVIII.  _Lipstick Smears_ (Hollence; Hollstein implied) (500)

Laura is thankful that Carmilla isn't here to watch her flail about between armoire and bathroom, trying to apply makeup and changing her outfit multiple times. It's the first date, like officially, and Laura's more nervous than any exam Danny's passed to her because now it's the Danny Exam and Laura's not sure she's prepared enough. It was Danny's prompt to go out to a nice restaurant in the nearby town, dress fancy and just make an occasion out of it, but for all of Danny's charmingly nervous and noncommittal words, Laura could only hear _it's a date it's a date it's a date._

 

So right now Laura is making her outline, she's picked comfortable flats because she knows they'll be walking, she's got a moderately decent spaghetti strap dress that leaves her shoulders bare (she's still weighing her options about a jacket, because maybe she'll shiver next to Danny and Danny will want to drape her own jacket over her shoulders), and she's pursing her lips in the mirror to color them with a dark red, darker than what she'd normally wear, because _it's a date._

 

But her alarm on her phone beeps from her bed and she knows time's up, she's only got about thirty seconds' worth to scribble out any changes and last minute thoughts.  She nods determinedly to her reflection, leaves her jacket on her bed but wraps a silk scarf that she found near the foot of Carmilla's bed around her shoulders, and opens her dorm door.

 

Where she meets Carmilla. An angry flush rushes to Laura's skin as Carmilla eyes her up and down. "Not a word - I won't have you shatter my confidence before my date with Danny."

 

Carmilla's eyebrows jut up. "A date, huh?" she drawls out, and she casually leans her hand on the doorframe, breaching Laura's personal space bubble.

 

"You look the part, but let me just..." and Carmilla's thumb is on Laura's upper lip, dragging at the skin there lightly. "There. I won't keep you." But Carmilla doesn't move an inch, so Laura has to awkwardly slide past her, drawing out a suspicious, "OK, yea, thanks," before almost tripping into the hallway. "I'll be back... whenever, you don't care."

 

"Only about my scarf, cupcake," she tosses over her shoulder.

 

So Laura huffs and starts down the hallway, realizing her lips feel tingly. She catches her reflection in the glass case of an announcements board, and frowns, because sure enough, Carmilla has smeared her lipstick into a dark stain across her lips. Laura scrunches her eyebrows and reaches into her clutch for her lipstick. But then she reconsiders it and grabs a tissue instead, to wipe it all away entirely.

\---

Underneath a cherry tree lit with streetlight, Danny brushes Laura's lips reverently with her thumb before she kisses her, chastely. Laura thanks god she didn't keep the synthetic barrier of red on her lips, because Danny's are smooth and soft and Laura feels like there's electrons passing between them.

 

 

XXIX. _Try and relax_ (500) (Hollence)

Laura makes a noise so loud and guttural that it actually shoots a shock of worry through Danny. Looking up from her laptop screen she sees that Laura has dropped face first into _The Cantebury Tales_ and is rubbing the back of her neck.

 

"Burnt out?" Danny inquires. In answer, Laura leans back in her chair, rolls her head to side and gazes tiredly at Danny. Then she pulls her Silas U hoodie over her face dramatically and gapes out another groan through the fabric. From across the computer lab in the library, Danny sees she's not the only one surprised by the noise coming from such a tiny source.

 

"Oh c'mon, Chaucer's not that bad," Danny reaches across the table and lets her finger bury itself between the pages of Laura's text. Laura shrugs off her hood.

 

"It's not the material, really. It's... the time crunch. And like, the life or death rescue operation that has become my collegiate side mission. It's just alotta pressure, y'know?"

 

"Give yourself some credit, you're dealing with a lot more crap than most students. Or, at least most students at any other university."

 

Laura rubs at her neck again, staying silent, and Danny can see she's thinking way too hard about all the life and death stuff.

 

Scooting her chair around the corner, Danny takes Laura's hand from her neck and places it on the table. While Laura watches her, the Summer Sister slides her own hand beneath Laura's curtain of studiously disheveled hair and -

 

"Are your shoulders always this tense?"

Laura replies with a lazily wry smile, "You've seen how excitable I can get, right? I'm a pretty tense person, in general."

 

"I dunno, it's kinda cute. But maybe you could chill out sometimes, if you're getting muscle cramps like all day."

 

"Oh yes _please_ , please remove for me one of the many insane issues that I have to deal with in my life. I'd love you forever."

 

And Danny can't see but she maybe feels the back of Laura's neck flush. She starts rubbing her thumbs there.

 

Eventually Laura starts to relax, sinking a little lower in her chair, leaning a little more to Danny's side, resting her head on her hands.

 

Danny feels her cheeks warm too, but more so from the stares she imagines she might be getting. But she angles her hip a little more on her seat, which ends up pressing her thigh against Laura's sweatpants. Which feels good because the library is kinda cold and she's in her track shorts.

The minutes pass by as Danny, who really was only hoping for like 10 seconds worth of touching Laura's skin, finds herself kneading her knuckles deep in between the girl's shoulder blades. It's a little tough through the hoodie but Danny's not about to ask her to remove it in the middle of the _library._

Which is both a terrifying and exciting thought. And then Laura gives a moan so delicious that Danny has to stop.

 

XXX. _The Pot Cookie Party (Danny POV)_ (Hollence, brief Carmilla mention) (500 + 500)

"Do you feel anything yet?"

 

"I dunno. Maybe. My eyes feel dry."

  

Danny sits on the Zeta tree house swing with Laura tucked next to her. The taste of sugar and chocolate rests on her tongue, laced with bitter herb which she thinks she's starting feel because there's tingles, but they're mostly coming from where Laura is folded against her side.

 

Kirsch said it'd take about 20 minutes to kick in before mentioning with a wink how "hecka sweet" it is to zone out on the swinging bench in the backyard. Which was considerate of him given that he basically thrust them out into the yard because  "officially any Council Members of the Summer Society are _epso fatto_ banned from the Zeta house whenever a Keg Stand Challenge is underway." Which Danny thinks is fine because she'd much rather be out here with Laura anyway, near the forest, instead of inside a sweaty living room trying to teach frat boys proper Latin (or English, for that matter).

 

She watches a moth dance in the fire light of a nearby torch. Watches its shadow on the ground, flighty and near-transparent, but the movements revealed a sort of pattern the longer Danny tracked it. Spouts of energy would burst and then flow into a glide, and lift back up again. The flame flickered with the moth. The flame grew higher with a breeze, brighter. It shrank back down again, and Danny could trace the deeper flight paths the moth was making.  Danny felt the next breeze before she saw it, how a breath stoked the fire and consumed the bomb-diving worshipper.

 

"Woah."

 

"I know."

 

"Did you see that moth just now?"

 

"Huh what?" Laura blinks and brings her gaze back to Danny, who realizes now she was staring upwards. "I was gonna say how nice the stars are."

 

"Oh, oh yea. Yea, really nice actually. Yea."

 

And Danny's a little flustered now cuz Laura has snuck her hand into her palm and while she's never been much for star gazing, she at least makes an effort and if she lets her mind drift, she can imagine the lights twinkle like Laura's eyes when she's mapping out an investigation or reading to Danny under the shade of the cherry tree at the back of the Summer House.

 

"Carmilla stargazes like, every night. She tends to get broodingly philosophical around 3:30 in the morning."

 

An ice cube suddenly slips into Danny's gut. She looks back to the fire where sparks fly into the air and imagines the crackling of singeing flesh and combusting bone.

 

"My throat's dry. Get some drinks?"

 

Her pretty smile nods in affirmation.

 

Kirsch swings open the back door just as Danny steps onto the porch, the front of his shirt dripping and a wide grin on his face. "Perfect timing Psycho Sister! The Keg Stand King has been crowned  " he leans forward and jabs his thumbs into his chest, " so you're free to join the festivities inside! Thirsty?"

 ii.

Danny's not sure how much time has passed, but she's comfortably high now after being peer-pressured by Kirsch to partner in a table tennis match against Will and some new Zeta inductee. Her face feels flush from victory and strange camaraderie and weed and alcohol, but she feels like she's handling herself well, and in any case Laura keeps looking up at her with sparkles in her eyes. Locking eyes with her now, across the table tennis battlefield, Danny compares them not so much to stars, which are so far as to never be touched, but as to the glittering surface of a lake, shimmering and inviting. Danny finishes her drink just as Kirsch slaps her on the back, yelling much too loudly given that he's right next her, "Mad skills, Psycho! I gotta invite you to more parties, maybe we can finally settle on a truce between our two great societies!"

 

Danny bops Kirsch's hand off her shoulder with her paddle, "A truce signed with revelry and wine is not one to last for time," but she can't help but smile.

 

"Beautiful! Awesome!" Kirsch claps as Danny walks away, making for the windowsill where Laura is perched, drink cradled in both hands.

 

"You're pretty impressive," Laura nods when Danny reaches her. "I mean, I couldn't really follow the game, but you seemed confident." She scoots over for the taller girl, who has to bend forward a little bit so her head doesn't hit the frame.

 

"I grew up with a houseful of brothers, I'm a little competitive sometimes."

 

Danny watches as Laura takes a drink from her cup, which she notices is still near-full even though Danny handed it to her before she got pulled away to the match. Laura's leg is pulsing on the ground by the ball of her foot, nervous energy expending itself.

 

"You've been pretty quiet tonight. How're you feeling?" Danny brings a hand to Laura's shoulder, and smiles a little when she leans into it.

 

"It's pretty obvious when I'm not rambling at a thousand words per minute, huh?"

 

"I really like a lot of the stuff you say. Sometimes, like, not so much the occasions where you're telling me about your reckless endangerment, but most of the other stuff - it's good." Danny bumps Laura and squeezes her closer.

 

Laura smiles and Danny realizes how close they are and feels how fuzzy her mind is and sees how inviting Laura's eyes are and she -

"Danny - I think I need to go home."

 

"...hmm?"

 

Laura presses her forehead into Danny's shoulder, "I might be really super high right now and I think I'm gonna melt and fall right out of this window, so I need to go home and melt there instead. I think. I'm sorry."

 

Danny chuckles and settles for placing her lips into Laura's hair. "I getcha. You had the big half of the cookie."

 

"I did, I really did."

 

Danny offers her hand. "I'll walk you back to your dorm?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who stuck through this with me, I wasn't the most punctual, but y'know… whatever. And thank you to everyone who commented! Enjoy :3
> 
> (PS HAPPY EPISODE 36 DAY, I'M STILL GIDDY)


End file.
